National food guide : eat this way every day

Historic, archived document

Do not assume content reflects current
scientific knowledge, policies, or practices.

Check your meals against these rules —

1 . Leafy, green, and yellow vegetables
One or more servings daily

2. Citrus fruit, tomatoes, raw cabbage, and other high
vitamin C foods

One or more servings daily

3. Potatoes and other vegetables and fruit
Two or more servings daily

4. Milk, cheese, ice cream

(See directions inside for replacing part of milk with

cheese or ice cream)

Children through teen age: 3 to 4 cups milk daily

Adults: 2 or more cups milk daily

Pregnant women: At least 1 quart milk daily

Nursing mothers: About 1 V2 quarts milk daily

5. Meat, poultry, fish

One serving daily, if possible

Eggs . . . Four or more a week

Dried beans, peas,- nuts, peanut butter
Two or more servings a week

6. Bread, flour, and cereals
(Whole-grain or enriched or restored)
Every day

7. Butter and fortified margarine
Some daily

This is the Basic 7 guide (or well-balanced meals.
In time of emergency, you need to eat less of the
scarce foods, more of the plentiful.

FOOD IS NEEDED TO FEED THE HUNGRY-
DON'T WASTE IT

NATIONAL
FOOD GUIDE

OCT 1 & - '•'

m»E

• * *

IVAY *

&

Issued by

BUREAU OF HUMAN NUTRITION

AND HOME ECONOMICS

Agricultural Research Administration

U. S. Department of Agriculture

Washington, D. C. August 1946

This publication is a revision of and supersedes NFC-4, National
Wartime Food Guide.

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
AIS-53

Guide to Good Eating

All kinds of food are good . . . but for health we
need variety Our bodies are made of many materials
which must be supplied in the food we eat. We must
have foods that yield energy . . . foods that supply
the materials for growth and upkeep . . . and foods to
keep our bodies in good running order.

You can get all the right kinds of food needed for
health by using this simple guide — the Basic 7. Be sure
to include in your meals each day at least the minimum
number of servings from each group shown on the chart.
And make it a point to provide extra large servings to
teen-agers and active adults.

Foods within each group are much alike in food value,
so one can replace another and give many choices in
each group. A few foods are in more than one group.
Though all of the food groups could, and often do,
appear in one meal, this is not necessary. It's the total
for the day that counts. Be sure one serving of food is
not counted twice, even though it is listed in more than one
group.

Follow the Basic 7 when you plan your garden and
what other foods to produce, what to store, what to can.

Follow the Basic 7 when you eat out.

Make lunches and lunch boxes contribute a share of
the day's Basic 7.

LEAFY, GREEN, AND
YELLOW VEGETABLES

Raw, cooked, frozen, canned

One or more servings daily

Asparagus, green

Beans, snap, green

Beans, lima

Broccoli

Brussels sprouts

Cabbage, green

Chard

Collards

Endive, green

Escarole

Kale

Lettuce, leaf

Mustard greens

Okra

Peas, green

Peppers, green and red
Spinach
Turnip greens
Wild greens
Other greens, including
salad greens

Carrots

Pumpkins

Squash, winter yellow

Sweetpotatoes

CITRUS FRUIT,

TOMATOES,

RAW CABBAGE,

other high vitamin C foods

-

One or more servings daily

Grapefruit
Grapefruit juice
Kumquats
Lemons
Limes
Oranges
Orange juice
Tangerines

Tomatoes
Tomato juice

Cantaloups (muskmelons]
Pineapples, raw
Strawberries, raw

Cabbage, raw
Greens, salad
Peppers, green, ra>
Turnips, raw

th<

A large serving of
above vegetables
be substituted for
fruits listed in this group

can
the

If foods in Group
hard to get, use
especially raw
Groups 1 and 3.

more,
from

POTATOES AND OTHER
VEGETABLES AND FRUIT

Raw, cooked, frozen, canned, dried

Two or more servings daily

Potatoes
Sweetpotatoes

Artichokes

Beets

Cabbage, white

Cauliflower

Celery

Corn, sweet

Cucumbers

Eggplant

Leeks

Lettuce, head

Mushrooms

Onions

Parsnips

Radishes

Rutabagas

Salsify, or oysterplant

Sauerkraut

Squash, summer

Turnips

Apples

Apricots

Avocados

Bananas

Berries

Cherries

Cranberries

Currants

Dates

Figs

Grapes

Peaches

Pears

Persimmons

Pineapple, canned

Pineapple juice, canned

Plums

Prunes

Raisins

Rhubarb

Watermelons

1

Aiso, vegetables and fruits not listed elsewhere

i^

MILK, CHEESE,
ICE CREAM

MILK . . . whole, skim, evaporated, condensed, dried,
buttermilk

Children through teen age: 3 to 4 cups
daily

Adults: 2 or more cups daily

Pregnant women: At least 1 quart daily

Nursing mothers: About IV2 quarts daily

On the basis of calcium content, the following may be
used as alternates for 1 cup of milk: Cheddar-type
cheese, 1 oz.; cream-type cheese, 4 oz.; cottage cheese,
12 oz.; ice cream, 2 to 3 large dips.

MEAT, POULTRY, FISH,
EGGS, DRIED BEANS
AND PEAS, NUTS

MEAT, POULTRY, FISH

Fresh, canned, or cured

One serving daily, if possible

Beef Variety meats, such as
Veal liver, heart, kidney,
Lamb brains, tongue, sweet-
Mutton breads
Pork (except bacon and Game

fat back) D , , , . ■

1 1 „, .r ril 1 „r l„ Poultry, such as chicken,

Lunch meats, such as 00- _i _ 1

logna

duck, goose, turkey
Fish and shellfish

EGGS

Four or more a week

DRIED BEANS AND PEAS;
. NUTS AND PEANUT BUTTER

Two or more servings a week

Dried beans

Dried peas

Lentils

Soybeans

Soya flour and grits

Peanuts
Peanut butter
Nuts of all kinds

I

BREAD, FLOUR,
AND CEREALS

Whole-grain or enriched or restored
Every day

Breads:

Whole-wheat

Dark rye

Enriched

Rolls or biscuits made

with whole-wheat or

enriched flour
Oatmeal bread

Crackers, enriched, whole-
grain, soya

Flour, enriched, whole-
wheat, other whole-grain

Corn Meal, whole-grain
or enriched

Grits enriched

Cereals:

Whole-wheat
Rolled oats
Brown rice
Converted rice
Other cereals, if whole-
grain or restored

BUTTER AND
FORTIFIED MARGARINE

Some daily
ENERGY FOODS

Basic 7 foods give energy
listed below give chiefly
in addition to the Basic 7

and protect health. The foods
energy. They may be eaten
foods, but not in place of them.

Bacon

Com meal, degerminated

Drippings

Cornstarch

Lard, other

shortenings

Hominy grits

Mutton fat

Macaroni

Poultry fat

Noodles

Salad dress

ngs

Rice, white

Salad oils

Spaghetti

Salt pork, fat back

Suet

Unenriched:
Crackers

Honey

White bread, rolls

Jams

White flour

Jellies

Molasses

Cakes

Preserves

Candy

Sirup

Chocolate

Sorghum

Cocoa
Cookies
Pastries
Sugar
Other sweets

THE BASIC 7 FOOD GROUPS